He betrayed both. Just a gold digger. But he didnt double cross Tonga when he jumped ship. He just jumped. He implied to the Kiwis he would play for them, while poaching players, then waited until the last second to pull out. He knew what he was doing. Its wasnt "badly handled". Kiwis should just blacklist him for life. Cant do much more but to beat his ass at every opportunity.

Long live the Rainbows and Butterflies

i gotta wonder if after that performance if it would be a good idea for Cowboys to make Taumalolo their next captain. If he lifts like that for them, they would be back in form so damn fast, just by following him down the pitch.

Warriors Orange Peeler

Spent most the MMT TOA game watching the Warriors contingent of the Samoa team.

James Gavet still seems a little flat. Doesn't have as much punch at the line like he did last year.

Thought Bunty Afoa stood out for Samoa with his typical charging runs.

Isaiah Papali'i did himself proud in his first Test though at times he looked puffed. Was kept out there too long.

Ligi Sao didn't really feature for me which was disappointing. Was hoping to see him push a stronger case for inclusion into the NRL team.

Mason Lino did his job with the limited space and possession he was given.

What concerned me about all of them was how poor they were in defence at times. Falling off tackles, jersey grabbing or plain misreads. It was shocking at times. They also looked a little sluggish and off the pace.

I was the same, I’ve warmed to big Ken this season but he chose Samoa- should stick with it.
Wasn’t the rule brought in originally as you would see a couple of either over the hill or 1-2 capped players that would never play for NZ or Aus again but would be of use to the island teams.
In fact I seem to remember it being a ploy from oz to cap a decent island player just so they couldn’t play against oz?

I'm pretty sure Ken wasn't picked for the Kiwis Workd Cup so did the next best thing for him pulled on a Samoan Jersey. Maybe he always wanted to be a Kiwi but wasn't picked, didnt think anyone would have picked him last year.

U20's Player

I'm pretty sure Ken wasn't picked for the Kiwis Workd Cup so did the next best thing for him pulled on a Samoan Jersey. Maybe he always wanted to be a Kiwi but wasn't picked, didnt think anyone would have picked him last year.

I get that he’s proud but if his goal was to play for the kiwis then it’s a massive disrespect to Samoa, players need to pick a country and stick with it. The fact that I have to use the phrase “ ‘pick’ a country” is farcical in itself

Pacific nations are set to play in a regular end-of-season tournament, possibly including Australia and New Zealand, while they may also host Tests against Great Britain during the 2019 Lions tour.

The RLIF recently appointed Jeremy Edwards, the 2017 World Cup tournament director, to the newly-created role of southern hemisphere general manager. One of his main tasks is to develop a Pacific Championship to provide regular games for Tonga, Samoa, Fiji and Papua New Guinea.

It is undecided whether Australia and New Zealand would participate, but the Pacific nations are keen to play the Kangaroos and Kiwis after their success at the World Cup.

“Jeremy’s role is the deliver a plan for Asia-Pacific and the core element of that plan has got to be a Pacific Championship,” RLIF chairman John Grant said.

“If you want meaningful international football you have got to play more games and a Pacific Championship that leverages off the World Cup is what we really need to do. That is going to be one of Jeremy’s major responsibilities.”

The RLIF has appointed Edwards and global operations manager Danny Kazandijan to newly created positions for an organisation, which until the appointment of David Collier in 2015, didn’t have a fulltime CEO. Former RLF chief executive Nigel Wood has now replaced Collier.

In a wide-ranging interview with NRL.com ahead of the game’s inaugural stand-alone representative weekend, featuring the Pacific Test double-header, State of Origin and the Denver Test, Grant outlined the RLIF’s ambitions, including:

Establishing the Pacific Championship;

Developing greater parity in Test payments, and;

Creating a five-year international calendar.

Among the key events on the international calendar will be the re-introduction of Lions tours, with Great Britain planning to travel to the southern hemisphere in 2019 to play Australia and New Zealand.

The Lions, who will be coached by Wayne Bennett, are also likely to play Papua New Guinea and either Fiji, Samoa or Tonga.

“They want to play Test matches and there is a strong commercial case to go PNG, there is a commercial opportunity to go to New Zealand and they think they have a moral obligation to go to Samoa, Tonga or Fiji – one of them,” Grant said.

Developing a five-year calendar would enable the game to commercialise international fixtures and prevent the scheduling issues which sparked fierce debate over the Test between New Zealand and England at Mile High Stadium on Saturday (Sunday, 6am AEST).

Grant said it was in the interests of players, clubs and the NRL to grow the game internationally, with broadcast rights outside Australia and New Zealand for the Telstra Premiership and Holden State of Origin increasing from $8 million for the past five years to $25 million from 2018 to 2022.

With speculation that broadcasters may not be prepared to pay as much for sports rights in the future, Grant said there was an opportunity for the game to offset any reduction by increasing revenue from other areas.

“In the next five years they have got to figure out how they will drive their revenues in 2022 if they don’t get the same level of grant from the centre [NRL] out of broadcast. You have got to play in a bigger market, it is the only choice you’ve got.

“If I was a big club like Melbourne Storm, South Sydney or St George Illawarra, I would want to be a global brand. I would want to be like Manchester United and I would want to have fans around the world.

“The only way you can do that is to make international rugby league stronger, with more games being played. That’s why you play in Denver.”

The main complaints about the Denver Test were over player welfare but the NZRL and RFL have put into place a range of measures to help alleviate concerns and Grant said the RLIF was looking to implement standards for all nations.

To do so, Grant believes the RLIF should be involved in a CBA for international football, which would also address the issue of more equitable Test match payments for players.

“England and New Zealand have done a great job in terms of getting their player welfare regime in place so that has been a really good exercise. But if that were pulled back as part of the CBA with the RLIF for international rugby league you’d get standards right across the board,” Grant said.

“The other thing you have to do is take out this bias around payment structures, where the Australian players get $20,000 per game and the Fiji and Tonga players are getting $300.

“The Australian players are quite disposed to trying to even that out and I think where this needs to land is for there to be a CBA for international football with the RLIF.”

He seemed to be skinnier last season, and has put on a bulk of muscle in the pre season. Seems to have lost a yard of pace in terms of hitups and defensively getting around the field.

I also think we may be overrating what he was actually doing last year because of his high energy. Besides Muts all our other props were terrible last year. Bunty and Paasi are decent upgrades, and maybe showing Gavet for what he really is. Because looking at his stats, they arn't too dissimilar to what he was putting up last year.

Warriors Bench Player

He seemed to be skinnier last season, and has put on a bulk of muscle in the pre season. Seems to have lost a yard of pace in terms of hitups and defensively getting around the field.

I also think we may be overrating what he was actually doing last year because of his high energy. Besides Muts all our other props were terrible last year. Bunty and Paasi are decent upgrades, and maybe showing Gavet for what he really is. Because looking at his stats, they arn't too dissimilar to what he was putting up last year.

I thought Gavet played really well vs Tonga. As far as punch? Sources have told me hes had to switch up his running style to cater towards getting a faster play the ball rather than hitting the line and trying to power his way through the defence.

My own theroy is that maybe Gavet is trying to conserve his energy by changing his runing style, Dude just isnt as fit as we want him to be but we keep starting him? If we had him off the bench where we could use him in short stints, I think he'd bring a harder running style.. Isnt that how we had him lastyear? Until then, we got a prop that wants to utilise his running and his defence better, but gets a starting position instead of an impact off the bench... cant conplain with that.

I still think Afoa is undersized, seen him personally and I dont think hes even 6 foot? lol. He gets dominated against bigger packs and its not even close. Id rather him at second row tbh. Ah Mau, Gavet, Passi, Pulu.. I like that rotation better.

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